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So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel (Heb. He Struggles with God), because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel (Heb. Face of God),  saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,  and he was limping because of his hip.
Genesis 32:24-31

Originally this blog was intended to be dedicated to Bahá’í apologetics. Since I started the blog I have strayed from that a bit, and become more and more convinced of the need for a good bit of Bahá’í apologetics online. So I have a question for you all, non-Bahá’í, born Bahá’í, convert, ex-Bahá’í, enrolled, unenrolled, etc. What issues in the Bahá’í Faith have you struggled to understand, accept, reconcile? What issues may have caused you trouble accepting the Faith, have tested your Faith, caused you to resign, stand in the way from accepting the Faith, or presented challenges to overcome? I mean theological issues, social teachings, practices, anything. If you want to give me detail you can, if you don’t fine.You are free to comment anonymously, or to email me at shalomatnight @ gmail . com

I will then be looking at these issues, studying the writings, my own experiences/beliefs and those of others and sharing my thoughts. There are issue that I have had these experiences with and I will share them. I would like to explore practical apologetics, especcially as I  unfortunately see Bahá’ís online acting in ways online that I would call polemics under the guise of apologetics. Earnest discussion of faith, proofs and evidences, and life experiences are the apologetics I want to pursue.

The authors of Bahá’í Perspectives – my new favorite Bahá’í blog – keep churning out wonders. Their latest post is a gem for Bahá’ís and interested non-Bahá’ís. It approaches the modern dating paradigm from a Bahá’í Perspective, identifies the problems, and searches through the Writings of the Bahá’í Faith for solutions:

Quit Playing Games
It seems that from culture to culture, no matter if you’re from Seychelles or France, Nova Scotia or the Yucatan, certain things are universally appealing. The pursuit of love, of a relationship, sitting perhaps atop the list of things people are seeking. Since the appearance of humans on this planet, one could safely guess, we have been trying to woo one another or convince one another that we are worthy of being wooed.

Bahá’í Perspectives is the newest addition to my blogroll, and this post did it. I advise every fellow blog-fiend to give them a gander.

I have two ways of loving You:
A selfish one
And another way that is worthy of You.
In my selfish love, I remember You and You alone.
In that other love, You lift the veil
And let me feast my eyes on Your Living Face.
Rabi’á al-Basra

Everyone has experienced synchronicity. You learn a new word and suddenly you hear it everywhere? You start thinking about a concept and people around you start bringing it up? Wikipedia defines synchronicity in a very succinct manner:

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally un-related. In order to be ’synchronistic’, the events must be related to one another temporally, and the chance that they would occur together by random chance must be very small.

I have come to believe, simply from my experience, that synchronicity is very often a divine message. A way of God and the Universe nudging you in the right direction. Although it may be perfectly explainable logically, it is anomalous in our perception. At the very least it cannot be ignored. In my life I have one great experience of synchronicity. Throughout the months before I discovered the Baha’i Faith, while still in a limbo of developing panentheism from my atheism, I kept thinking that a religion ought to be founded that united the Abrahamic Faiths and took the attitude of Islam to other religions (Every people being sent a Prophet). During this time, the Baha’i Faith popped up quite a few times in my life. So, from my experience in life and the experiences of others relayed to me, I strongly believe that synchronicity at least demands our respect and attention.

So, as a result of synchronicity you get another post on vulnerability. I have been thinking about vulnerability as a virtue and a necessary aspect of salvation/theosis lately (I think that Alison Marshall somehow put this idea in my head; I don’t remember quite how though). Today, listening to a podcast from Krista Tippet’s radio program Speaking of Faith (Which I recommend to anyone of any religious or non-religious background), I heard an interview with author and philosopher John O’Donohue. John said something that caused an instant connection in my mind and a personal revelation on how vulnerability functions in the human relationships with God and man. I will share two pieces of the program here, one from John himself, and a quote from his book, Anam Kara:

Mr. O’Donohue: You imagine the surface of the ocean is all restless and then you slip down deep below the surface where it’s still and where things move slower. And what I love in this regard is my old friend Meister Eckhart, 14th-century mystic.

Ms. Tippett: Right. German mystic.

Mr. O’Donohue: German mystic. And one day I read in him and he said, “There is a place in the soul — there is a place in the soul that neither time, nor space, nor no created thing can touch.” And I really thought that was amazing, and if you cash it out what it means is, that in — that your identity is not equivalent to your biography. And that there is a place in you where you have never been wounded, where there’s still a sureness in you, where there’s a seamlessness in you, and where there is a confidence and tranquility in you. And I think the intention of prayer and spirituality and love is now and again to visit that inner kind of sanctuary.

—

In the Celtic tradition, there is a beautiful understanding of love and friendship. One of the fascinating ideas here is the idea of soul-love; the old Gaelic term for this is anam kara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul and kara is the word for friend. In the early Celtic church, a person who acted as a teacher, companion, or spiritual guide was called an anam kara. It originally referred to someone to whom you confessed revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With the anam kara you could share your innermost self, your mind, and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. … In everyone’s life there is great need for an anam lara, a soul friend, in this love you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. Where you are understood, you are at home.

At that instant, two quotations I have been thinking of a lot lately, from the Baha’i writings and traditions of the Holy Imam `Alí

O SON OF BEING!
Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent. Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation.

(Bahá’u'lláh, 59th Arabic Hidden Word)

—

He who has known himself has known his Lord.

Now, the first quotation I actually have not been thinking of. I have been thinking of something that a Baha’i teacher once told me. He said “God gave us this entire planet and everything in it. The only thing He asks for Himself is our hearts. God wants to dwell in our hearts.” I don’t know exactly where this teacher picked that bit of wisdom up, but I see ample evidence for it in the Baha’i writings, and the 59th Arabic Hidden Word is just one of the many places where Bahá’u'lláh intones this incredible call to vulnerability and inner purity.

As I lay in my bed with my dog’s chew-toys in my ears (Which humans know as very expensive headphones :p) all these quotations came together as the answer to the question of vulnerability that I have been exploring as an aspect of Baha’i theosis, especially as revealed in the Hidden Words of Bahá’u'lláh (Which, according to Shia tradition were first revealed to the wife of the Imam `Alí, Lady Fatimah)

John O’Donohue talks about that place in our soul that has never been hurt, remains pure an unaffected by the world. He explains that that place is an identity free of any worldly attachments. Bahá’u'lláh talks about the heart and the spirit, and I believe He is speaking of the same concept, the Gaelic anam. Bahá’u'lláh also tells us that God’s home is that place, anam, and He is manifest within that inmost spirit. This then is what Imam `Alí meant I think, when He said “He who has known himself has known his Lord”. Since God is manifest in the inmost spirit of man, we can only access the very elevated and distant God by knowing Him through Our internal divinity (Our meaning shared between man and God). This also makes the dichotomy of a search for God within versus a search for God without immaterial.

`Abdu’l-Bahá explains that one of the four kinds of Love is love of man for man. But this love is only obtained by two people loving each other for the reflection of God within the other. This is, the Master tells us, the kind of love we should have for everyone, it has nothing to do with their human imperfections, but only with the reflection of God’s perfection within them. Thus, as two people grow closer to each other, they grow closer to God, and vice versa. This is the Gaelic concept of anam kara and it calls for vulnerability.

In life, we do our best to hide our inmost self, we create veils and masks and shields. If someone can see our inmost self, we lose control over the relationship, and open ourselves up to intense hurt. However, if that inmost self is a home for God, and true love only happens when people grow closer to each other and God simultaneously, we are then called to open ourselves up in all our relationships and try to see into the inmost self of others. When we want power in relationships we make ourselves more distant from others and from God. Thus, vulnerability is essential to love of all kinds and to salvation. We must open ourselves to harm and have faith that only good will enter. When we do this, we are following the directions of Bahá’u'lláh and allowing our hearts to become homes for God. Dieing to the world that He many live eternally in us.

O SON OF MAN!
If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in thee.

(Bahá’u'lláh, Seventh Arabic Hidden Word)

Thanks to Alison, who often helps me clue into important theological lessons lately, I started to ponder vulnerability. I knew it was important, but it is an abstruse idea. This morning, thanks to that divine synchronicity that helps restore my wonder in the natural world, I think I have started to realize some of it and the Hidden Words have become slightly less hidden to me. I apologize if this post was rather wacky, but I worked through my thoughts by writing them to some extent (Which I have heard is a feminine way of thinking; one that I am very dependent on despite the gender gap).

PS: In case there is a synchronitic message here, I will tell you all that I keep writing Imam `Alá instead of Imam `Alí. `Alá is the name of a Baha’i month, and Arabic for loftiness. If anyone thinks that means anything . . . Also, if you want to search for the book Anam Kara, or the topic in general, spell it anam cara.

I am flying out to Seattle (My favorite city in the entire world) two hours from now for a weekend annual conference of members of the Appointed Branch. We have Assistants, Auxilliary Board Members, Area Teaching Committees and maybe Counselors . . . I am looking forward to it so much, and hoping that I will finally meet our ABM for Protection!

When I get back, expect a blog post illuminating everyone on everything I learned, with a little squeeing about how awesome Seattle is. I hope it rains! (Not joking. I love the ocean, I love big cities, I love dreary/stormy weather, and I love Baha’is. Therefore Seattle is the greatest city on this side of the earth)

I want to thank my friends and fellow Baha’i bloggers George and Jim for referencing me in recent posts  (Here & here) on their great blogs. George is an old favorite of mine, a king among Baha’i bloggers and an example to us all; Jim is newer to me, but I keep running in to him online and being thoroughly impressed. Both of them commented in a way on my wariness to draw or focus on lines between groups of people. I recently saw a great documentary on homosexuality in American Christianity. A cleric in this documentary said, criticizing the homophobic strains of American Christianity ‘”The oldest way to create group unity is to create an ‘other’”. He proposed that homosexuals are the newest in a long-line of ‘others’. I believe the faith teaches that the creation of ‘others’ is the least effective and most fickle way to bring about group unity. My love for the Faith, my wish to ensure it’s unity and bring about through it worldwide unity, demands that I neither create ‘others’ or subscribe to pre-existent definitions of ‘us and them’. So, I at least try to do that.

When we decide that one group is an ‘other’ and we are the norm, we make our group unity or strength dependent on their existence and opposition. Should they cease to exist, or to care, our group collapses. If we focus on consolidation, this risk does not exist. Even to focus on internal unity alone creates an atmosphere of “us and them” which may not be apparent immediately but puts our whole group in danger. Alienating or labeling fellow Baha’is, putting them in groups where they are not quite as “Baha’i” as us harms our internal unity. Drawing a line between Baha’i and non-Baha’i harms our ability to bring about greater unity. Both are equally detrimental, though few people are willing to see them as parts of one spiritual disease. Often we will go about proclaiming unity between religions while condemning Baha’is we don’t agree with, or we will recognize all members of our group as the same without division while admitting the validity of the idea of ‘groups’. Unity is Godly, disunity of any kind is a spiritual disease the symptoms of which are plagueing our world and our faith.

I won’t claim to be guiltless. I have been guilty of criticizing fundamentalist/literalist Baha’is, or fraternizing more with heterodox Baha’is within and without my faith community simply because our beliefs or religious backgrounds are more similar. I have a habit of getting too political, or internally alienating my family because they are far more political than I feel Baha’u'llah wishes me to be. We must ignore those lines and train ourselves not to see them just as much as we avoid creating them. One of the chief ways to do this is through vulnerability. When we are vulnerable, we are dependent on others and unity necessarily come.

In closing I leave you the African philosophy of Ubuntu as stated by the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, a Saint among men :

Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language… It is to say, ‘My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours’. [ . . . ] My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.

Expect more posts from me on vulnerability, I believe it is a virtue and a key to the Baha’i concepts of theosis and salvation.

O ye beloved of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful! Teaching and learning, according to the decisive texts of the Blessed Beauty, is a duty. Whosoever is indifferent therein depriveth himself of the great bounty.

Beware! Beware! that ye fail not in this matter. Endeavor with heart, with life, to train your children, especially the daughters. No excuse is acceptable in this matter.

Thus may eternal glory and everlasting supremacy, like unto the mid-day sun, shine forth in the assemblage of the people of Baha, and the heart of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá become happy and thankful (Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 399)

Alláh-u-abhá Reader/Friend,
I have five posts I should be working on for this blog and my personal blog, but instead I am writing this one! I get off-track very easily!

Today I attended my community’s quarterly “Cluster Reflection Meeting”. Our regional Auxiliary Board Member for Propagation (Ferris) was in attendance. He just returned from pilgrimage where he met with Continental Counselors, members of the International Teaching Center, and members of the Universal House of Justice. Ferris is always inspiring and full of great advice for our community, and we look forward to him coming to visit. He is the embodiment of “meekness”, and he has a lot to be proud of, if he were a prideful person. I was recently named his Assistant, and I am looking forward to getting to know him better and learn from him. Today he was full of post-pilgrimage fire, and I was really affected by some of what he had to say. His lessons were really important and I think other Bahá’í ought to hear them.

My notes were awful, but I am going to try and summarizes the things that affected me most. I apologize if my writing is rather sloppy.

Pilgrims are the lifeblood of the community
Ferris just returned from pilgrimage, and he was full of spiritual fire. He told us how the first American pilgrims to Haifa would return to American to do great things in terms of teaching the Faith, and they were so inspirational that the Master decided to visit America. Ferris explained that each pilgrim is filled with spiritual fire, and the other members of the community need to use that fire as inspiration and fuel for their own teaching endeavors.

Only a handful of dedicated teachers are needed
At our meetings we like to talk about numbers and goals, but Ferris wanted to make sure we knew, and Counselor Murphy wanted to make sure he knew, only a handful of dedicated teachers are needed. Goals and numbers are good, but if you have ten teachers who go out and devote themselves wholeheartedly, the community will grow. One Bahá’í chimed in with an example: When Ruhi was first introduced in Boise, only a few Bahá’ís understood what it was, but they devoted themselves to making sure the community got the message, and within weeks everyone in Boise was taking Ruhi courses. Another Bahá’í shared an example of a family of Bahá’ís who moved to a city with no Bahá’í community. As a family project, they taught the faith, and within a year they had a community of 23 active Bahá’ís. Numbers are far less important to teaching than dedication.

Fear and reluctance is natural, obedience takes work
Ferris shared the example of Shoghi Effendi: Soon after `Abdu’l-Bahá passed away, Shoghi Effendi received a letter from Him. Shoghi Effendi was expecting to be given the responsibility of setting up the Universal House of Justice, and was intimidated but willing to serve. When he learned he had been appointed Guardian, not only was he shocked and intimidated, but he was afraid. He ran away to the Alps and prayed and meditated, leaving his aunt, the Greatest Holy Leaf, in charge of the community. Eventually she called him back to Haifa and he took up the mantle of Guardianship. So even for the most dedicated believers, the responsibilities God asks us to take on can be terrifying, and that is natural. Obedience is never easy.

The Universal House of Justice is Bahá’u'lláh’s messenger
This reminded me of something Susan Maneck said, essentially that the House may not have propositional inerrancy, but that their decisions reflect the direction of action God wants us to take. When the House sends a directive, we must act as if Bahá’u'lláh had sent that directive.

Teaching the Faith is required by God
Here I am straying from what Ferris said and telling you what I feel, inspired by his words. In the Bahá’í Faith we have social principles we hope to use to fix the world’s problems, and we believe the Faith is the only solution to the injustices of the world. We also feel that the Faith leads to personal salvation and joy. If we really believe those things, and do not teach the faith, we are guilty of a gross abuse of human rights. We are denying others the opportunity of the personal salvation and joy we experience, and not allowing the force that can fix the world to grow. Thus, not teaching the faith is the same as encouraging slavery, sexism, racism, economic abuse, environmental abuse, etc.

Prioritize, Systematize, and Focus
Some of us don’t like how organized the Faith is, but when we worry about that we miss the point of the organization. Other religion have slowly built and organized themselves over millennia, yet we seek to do what they did in millennia in centuries. We want to build a religious community in a systematized, organized fashion so that we can use that community to fix the ills of the world. Thus organization is not for the religion itself; it is to allow the religion to carry out it’s ultimate goals. We also have to realize that success is a process, and there will be shortfalls. In the 70’s people smoked marijuana and drank alcohol while teaching the faith. We did not know that was unacceptable, now we do, so we don’t do it. Shortfalls, process, learning. So, we have to create a religious culture which is open to vulnerability and learning.

God Bless,
Gerald

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Likewise, when you meet those whose opinions differ from your own, do not turn away your face from them. All are seeking truth, and there are many roads leading thereto. Truth has many aspects, but it remains always and forever one.

Do not allow difference of opinion, or diversity of thought to separate you from your fellow-men, or to be the cause of dispute, hatred and strife in your hearts.

Rather, search diligently for the truth and make all men your friends.

Every edifice is made of many different stones, yet each depends on the other to such an extent that if one were displaced the whole building would suffer; if one is faulty the structure is imperfect. Bahá’u'lláh has drawn the circle of unity, He has made a design for the uniting of all the peoples, and for the gathering of them all under the shelter of the tent of universal unity. This is the work of the Divine Bounty, and we must all strive with heart and soul until we have the reality of unity in our midst, and as we work, so will strength be given unto us. Leave all thought of self, and strive only to be obedient and submissive to the Will of God. In this way only shall we become citizens of the Kingdom of God, and attain unto life everlasting. (`Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 53)

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“does the bahai faith practice idolatry”

Alláh-u-abhá Reader/Friend,
Someone recently came to my blog my typing that query into Google. I always find it interesting the sort of things people search that lead them to my blog, but this one really interests me. I am going to dangerously assume that the searcher is a Christian, either a missionary or someone investigating missionary claims. This question seems silly to me, but there are websites out there teaching just that, so I think this warrants a response.

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Alláh-u-abhá Readers/Friends,
You know, I had a whole big post planned on the primality of springtime in religious observations, and how Naw-Ruz, the Fast and Ridvan all play into that. Then I realized: It’s fall in the Middle East during those Holy Days. See what happens when you fall prey to idle thought?

God Bless,
Gerald